Cheah Wei

Scaling Gunung Jerai 1200m with GTS mountain bike

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:58:15 GMT

Yesterday at exactly 1038am, i reached Gunung Jerai 1200m using my GTS mountain bike. It is a 13km uphill trail from the foot hill. The moutain resort is closed for rennovation, making a much easier trip for us due to lack of transport vehicle going up the hill. The trail is not as steep as i have thought of, which enable me to use the gear at 7,8th position to climb the hill, only changing to 9th at certain slopes. Although i made 3 stops along the way(to avoid clamp), i was happy that i have come and have made it to the peak. Along the trail, there were a sever landslide with half of the tarred road collapsed some few 100 meter, and the workers are trying to mend it. At the peak, some new chalets are being built. They are beautiful modern looking and overlooking the scenic padi field towards Alor Star.

One thing that puzzled me is that there were no signboard or notice board at the foothill saying that the resort is close for rennovation. i have met some family who have come to visit to the resort but has to go away in dismay after finding out that it is close. It seems no matter it is under the rule of BN or the current PAS state government, so inefficiency never gets changed.

more photo posted by my friend: Group photo 1, group photo 2

Kenwood BM350 breadmaker

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:19:45 GMT

Few months back i bought a Kenwood BM350 breadmaker at Carrefour Seberang Jaya. Recently we started using it. It works like charm. after puting in all the ingredients, it will pour out a delicious bread in about 3 hours. This homemade bread is free from unnecessary chemical compared to commercial bread. It is also much more delicious. Home DIY breadmaking has never being easier using this machine.

The Hills

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:23:22 GMT

Today the sky is clear. It prompted me to stop for a brief handphone photo taking session on the Prai-Butterworth bridge. For the first time i discovered that there are yet another hill at the south west of Bkt. Mertajam. I don't know what hill is that. It is rather high and is part of the Bintang moutain range. Too bad there isn't any GPS software capable of listing the hill that one actually can see on the screen. Probably i can do one

Whenever the sky is clear, the vista can really stretch a far, and i will feel somewhat relaxed, as if i were relieved of the burden that is pulling me all the while. As and engineer, i can afford a medium style life, but it does come with some stress and burden, or what i term as "rein" against my freedom. At times i really feel i don't have the freehand to do many things i like. Is this a crossroad for me? A path that i must walk on a rein although it is relatively "safe"? I think right now my mind is still foggy, preventing myself from clearly seeing the direction ahead. Logically i should have a clear mind as clear as today's sky, and let the vista stretch a far.

Baby girl loves to walk now

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:06:41 GMT

Ever since her last week trip to Kangar, baby girl now loves to try walking (with my assistant) around. Yesterday my family and me brought her to Jusco Seberang Prai City, i let her walk on the shopping center floor, she was so happy. She was shouting and singing as she explore the racks, occassionaly turn her face up looking at me and smile. Her loving smile and cute little teeth while looking at soften my tiredness. It was quite exhausting to assist her to walk around as i needed to bend my body. Ever since the Kangar trip she was also pretty sticky to me, and would want to ask me to carry her whenever she sees me. If i was carrying her, and tried to pass her to my dad or mum, she will quickly turn her face away and try to cling harder to my shoulder, holding tightly to my clothes and shaking her small body quickly as if she wants to climb onto me. My wife sister said that i was lucky that the baby wants her father as normally baby girl not close to father.

cycling trip to Sungai Sedim with some off road trail

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:58:16 GMT

Yesterday was the second trip i made to Sungai Sedim using bicycle. It was also the first time i used my newly bought GTS mountain bike for a long on road journey. The entire trip was about 58km (including of some 2km off route trail), starting from Kulim High Tech Park. Despite my second time to Sedim by bicycle (and many times by car), our group leader Albert bring us to jungle laden off road trail at sedim. We paddled up some uphill trail, circled through and going beneath some fallen trees and even crossed a river. The road ended after about some 1km, opening up to a beautiful pristine river rapids. After refreshing ourselves in the rapids, we "glided" down the trail. This was also my first downhill trip (my previous bike, i dare not rely on its brake).On the way back, we divulged ourselves at Nasi Ayam Periuk Besar. It was another 1st trial by me. The chicken is delicious, although the rice and soup was mediorce.

Ref

GTS mountain bike http://www.gtsbikes.com

on some nice day

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:53:30 GMT

Every morning, i enjoyed the beautiful scenery from Butterworth to Bayan Lepas FTZ. Sometimes i ride my bike, crossing the mini Penang bridge alike bridge linking Prai and Butterworth. From a far i can see the Cherok Tokun hill (Bkt. Mertajam) and on some good weather days the towering Bintang mountain range behind.

Sometimes i use the ferry service. it is slower than riding my bike, but i get to enjoy the view at leisure on the deck. The morning breeze is refreshing and carry with it a sense of calm and peace. Many boats, ships and cruiser lines the tiny straits of Penang, albeit not as busy as the port of Singapore. Butterworth boasts a deep water dock, which i think is underutilized based on the little number of cargo ships i see. I remembered when i was young there are many more docking ships at Penang compared to nowadays. Those days, the ferry will zip zap across so the many cargo ships on the straits. Nowadays, the ferry can travel in a straight line. The only delay is due to the fact there are only two operational ferry dock. The other two, which has collapsed in the 1980s, has never been revived. The broken outdated look of the ferry deck deepens the ghost town feel of Butterworth. But it does carry a sense of slow moving life, which is peaceful, and to me, is relaxing.

looking at Penang hill from the Butterworth-Prai bridge

another view on top the B'worth-Prai bridge, with Gunung Jerai a far

the Bintang moutain range and Cherok Tokun hill

The straits view

my ferry departed. another ferry is waiting to depart

Yatchs beside the Penang ferry terminal

14 Nov 2008 baby girl

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:52:13 GMT

for the first time, baby girl spend a night at my new house at Butterworth. She stayed from 14 Nov (friday) till 16 Nov (sunday).

on Saturday and Sunday, we bring her to some nearby places for eating out. She is shouting for food and wants people to feet her non-stop.

below is photo taken at the famous Raja Uda's "7th long" kuey teow soup

yummy.... i'm about to shout... I'm waiting...

shouting: feed me now !

we also went to a beautiful temple at Raja Uda. To reach it, go along the Jalan Raja Laut until you almost reach the intersection with Jalan Sungai Dua

inside the Raja Uda's temple

another temple we went to is at Pantai Bersih. I actually make the wrong turn into the Butterworth PORR tolled highway, and have to pay some $ make a big U-turn after i exited at Butterworth and return to Pantai Bersih. This temple completed rennovation after the Raja Uda's temple, but it is not as big nor as grand as the former.

outside of the temple at Pantai Bersih

new bike

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:41:21 GMT

After much thought, yesterday i ordered for a new mountain bike. it cost RM1600 comes with hydraulic brake. looking forward to seeing it next week

My trip to Rawang, Bangi, Ikea

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:52:32 GMT

It has been quite some time since i go to KL. these few days i went to Bangi, Rawang and Ikea.

at Rawang i still see jungles :) . at ikea i met sean and amy. we had steamboat

nowadays stop at some highway rest areas is really beautiful

Rawang jungle

My Yaccatree 罗汉松 - planting it in Malaysia

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:17:17 GMT

Last sunday i bring along my family to some nearby plants stocker to look for some new plants for my house. Eventually i selected the Yaccatree (罗汉松). It is beautiful (after shaped for years). i think if i grow it now, by time my baby girl reach 10 year old, the tree might be beautiful enough tree in our backyard.

Yesterday i did some search online and realized that the tree is so sought after in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong and the price has been driven up to crazy level. There even people who steal the trees! Surprisingly, very lack of information about planting the tree in Malaysia although i have seen the tree in various places, including inside the factory compound that i work in. probably i should buy some local agriculture magazine to look for it

i'll post some photo of my small yaccatree, which only cost RM25, in near photo. right now i haven't planted it. Time is rushed for engineer.

cycling to Sungai Sedim, Kedah

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:41:38 GMT

2 Nov 2008, 7am: we started cycling from Kulim High Tech Park towards Ulu Paip. Ulu Paip is the original destination, which is 16km from High Tech Park. When we reached there, the guys decided to further the journey to Sungai Sedim. it is 28km from High Tech Park. On the way back, i have my leg cramped for 7 times... really jialak!

windows mobile SDK: deploying application to blackjack 2 smartphone

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:54:24 GMT

after some really long installation procedure ( i have waited one whole night for the VS2005 SP1 to install on my outdated Pentium 4 with 256MB SDram system), i finally get to toy with windows mobile 6 sdk. i compiled a sample program and happily try to deploy it on my phone. i encountered the "app is not signed" error and the sample program refuses to be run. I check the online documentation, it didn't say an easy way to solve it. It merely mention that i should check withe cell phone producer whether it can allow unsigned app to run.

as such i got to do a search on this topic. i found infor and copied this from http://betterthaneveryone.com/archive/2008/09/01/deploying-an-application-directly-to-your-phone.aspx

Connect the device via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center (Vista). Sorry for the obvious.

Copy the Certs.CAB file (C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\Tools\Security\SDK Development Certificates) into the Temp folder on the phone, I typically use my memcard.
Copy the SecurityOff.CPF (C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\Tools\Smartphone\SecurityConfiguration) into the Temp folder on the phone.
On the phone, click on the Certs.CAB to launch install from your File Explorer.
Repeat with SecurityOff.CPF
Reboot the device (you seriously need to do this, I did verify).
Select “Windows Mobile 6 Standard Device” from deployment menu (see picture at the top of this blog post).
Test to verify

new house new balance

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:43:26 GMT

introducing my friend @ http://cid-43f77f457663e3c1.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!43F77F457663E3C1!138.entry#post

he has just quit his engineer work

i salute him for his courage :) he is surely another previously imprisoned engineer who has freed himself from the cage of employment.

over the weekend and last week, me and wife has done some cleaning up, painting work at our new house. Let's call it home improvement project. Things have being slow moving (over 3 months already) as engineers like us really lack of time. When we finish work, it is easily 8pm (after dinner). So it has really make me think whether as engineer is equal to as prisoner. a prisoner not only of time, but of freedom as well. At work, i think i can allocate less than 10% of my time to pursue on engineering challenge that i want to try upon. I couldn't blame my employer, as they have their priorities (which is more or less making optimum return from their investment).

However, i'm one person who treasure freedom and the flexibility to roam freely. i think as engineer has more "cons" and the "pros". in fact the major pro, which is regular income, is not something i couldn't achieve without becoming engineer. The only "pro" that i value the most is the venue for me to work on engineerign project and learn new stuff from an engineering company. Frankly, nowadays i find the cons really outweight the pro. i think life is not just about making $. Life is about life, work and play. we need to balance it up.

Cherok To'kun plantation trail

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:56:01 GMT

Yesterday, i went to hike Cherok To'kun (bukit mertajam hill) using a new trail. The trail starts from an oil palm plantation just beside the Hutan Lipur Cherok to'kun gate. The trail is not too steep and scenery is quite nice. Compared to the other trail that starts from the stream, this one cut through the edge of the hill and from there we can see the scenery of the of the places surrounding the hills. The oil palm platation vanished after 5 minutes walking, and continued with patches of rubber trees. after about 20 minutes hiking, only pristine jungles are left. We found footprint of wild boar a plenty although we didn't come across one. I saw some big trees and some wild fungus. One thing that amaze me is that this trail is also used as the x-treme mountain biking downhill tournament. i really don't know how those people can go downhill in a trail like this. after about 55 minutes hiking, we reach the telecommunication tower at the peak.

Malaysia Housing Loan: important point to decide on

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:25:22 GMT

it has been a year since i took up my housing loan with Public Bank. i think there are some important point to consider before taking up a loan.

generally on brochure all banks seems to offer similar package. some banks seems to offer a better "interest" figure, but the details behind might work out to render it disadvantages. Here are the points

1) lock in period is based on full release or first release date?

all banks' loan have a lock in period (5 yrs nominal). lock in period might start on first release date or full release date. If your house take 3 yrs to complete (when the bank fully release all the loan amount), your lock in period actually is 5+3 yrs , meaning u cannot sell or fully settle your loan amount without incurring penalty within 8 yrs buying your property

2) installment and capital repayment

although all banks will say u can start installment upon first release, some banks disallow capital repayment (for my case is UOB bank) prior to full release date. that means u only can pay interest during that period. if your house takes 3 yrs to build (for an apartment), u have to pay interest only for 3 yrs. that works out to be quite some $

3) better if the bank, the developer and the buyer use the same lawyer. it will make the work faster. for myself i use the same lawyer and still almost get fined for not able to meet the first release on time. having different lawyer will further delay the process

4) can use redraw facility?

for my public bank loan, i can redraw those $ which i have pay up after full release. so although my house loan has lock in period or 5 yrs, i can virtually pay as much as possible within 5 yrs to reduce interest been charged, and try to use the redraw facility to redraw $ if i can pay up the loan amount before the lock in period. i can avoid getting fined by the bank using this.

5) there seems to be no way to avoid getting fined due to lock in period if one decide to sell the house before lock in period end

6) condition of penalty if early payup or sell of property.

some banks penalized based on loan amount (regardless how much you still owe them)

public bank only penalized based on the not yet pay up loan amount

cheers

Mountain bike trail: Air Putir Waterfall, Junjung, Kedah

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:00:58 GMT

Last sunday 7am –1030am, cycled from Bandar Tasek Mutiara (Penang) to Junjung waterfall (Kedah). although across state border, it is only 7.2km between the two points. From Junjung waterfall (before the waterfall entry), there is a red earth road on the right. From there it lead to a covered trail (covered by cement). The trail is not too long and should be able to reach the rubber plantation (top of the hill) within 30-45 minutes. Along the way, the trail passes through a number of small streams and small waterfall and is scenic. It will also pass through some fruit trees plantations. I saw some chinese orchard workers who are friendly and see no dogs (unlike some other orchards i have gone to). At the end of the orchard, will reach a sort of bushes and can see the Bukit Mertajam hill and Penang island. After that will reach the rubber plantation. From there we turned back to Junjung. Accordingly to an orchard worker, the trail can lead across the hills and reach road 136 (Kulim towards Serdang). I captured my GPS coordinate about 400m from the start of the trail (the entrace to the dirt road and covered trail) and it is @

i think my 6x3 speed Lerun tourney bike is not suitable for uphill task and its v-brake system is not good enough. i’m thinking for upgrade. 99% of the uphill and 99% of the downhill i actually push my bike :) . my stamina is not fit enough either, have got to train up.

crossing a stream…. high on the orchard trail

bkt. Mertajam & Penang island afar at the top of the hill: rubber trees

Butterworth, overlooking Georgetown, Penang

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:24:51 GMT

This year, Georgetown is declared a UNESCO world’s heritage site. For a Penangite like me, i feel happy and somewhat proud with it. I’m not a “art” or “heritage” type of person, but i do treasure all the old shoplots and historical stuff, be it in town or my personal belongings. i keep my own treasure box of my childhood things: toys…etc.

Just across Georgetown lies Butterworth. It is where the cargo port is located, which is served by highways and railway. I think there are many “heritage” type of write up about Penang, but nobody has actually seriously mention Butterworth. I’m not a historian, i don’t have much data or info but i think i can write in my perspective about Butterworth, its glory days and its current sleepy town days.

I was born in Butterworth, its district hospital. The district hospital has since been demoted to a policlinic, due to the dwindling population. When i was young, i stayed at Kampung Jawa, very nearby to HSBC bank. Nearby there is a road call the New Ferry Road, and people call the surrounding area collectively as New Ferry Road ( or called New Road in Mandarin). There is a wet market along the road, beside which lies some very active community shop lots selling various stuff. Many has burnt down over the decades. Now only a handful of them is left intact. Many of those not burnt down has been torn down by the landlord. Some housing and commercial development project is on the way (as of today). i take the opportunity to take a photo of New Ferry Road wet market.

New Ferry Road market as view from a quite nice indian friend mee stall across the street.

Soon, the market will be torn down to give way to development. With that i think one of most vivid old building in New Ferry road that i still remember as a child will fade into history. I remembered my mum bringing me to the market, buying fish. and my mum say i love to look at chicken, and that she worry the chicken will poke at my eyes.

Butterworth, during its heyday, features some medium range hotels (KL hotel, Merlin hotel), and 3 cinemas, 3 supermarkets. ever since the early 1980s, people start moving out from the city area to the surrounding areas (especially Chai Leng Park, Seberang jaya, and up to Bukit Mertajam). i remembered Butterworth as a town as busy as Bukit Mertajam. Since 1980s, Butterworth slowly decline as it lost its population. All the supermarkets, all the cinemas, 1 of the hotel are closed down. in opposite direction, Bkt. Mertajam added some shopping centers and hotel. As of now, Bkt. Mertajam is more buzzy then the sleepy Butterworth, although Bkt. Mertajam is now becoming more and more sleepy as well.

Butterworth once has a nice beach front, we call it Pantai Bersih, with beach side park, huge children playground, library and a huge Malay hawker centers. Now, all of these (except one or two hawker stalls and a small portion of the original park) are gone. the beach are not reachable nowadays as the Butterworth outer ring road and a railway + port now has conquered the land. i not sure whether the sea life is still surviving out there. when i was young, we dig for “lala” (a kind of small oyster), catch “blanka”, and fear at the many crabs that live on the beach. (the beach is huge, and in my mum young time, it even span the length of a football field from the park to the sea). Many of the colonial style bungalow that front the beach has also gone.

In front of the post office overlooking the "esplanade" of Butterworth

Services that cause problem to network and internet connection

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:42:26 GMT

Bonjur

---------

This service cause problem for remote pc and VPN gateway. It is a very common service installed by Apple products. If iTunes is installed, then Bonjour is likely running in background

to kill the services:

run services.msc and look for "Bonjour Service". Right-click it, select properties, and set the Startup Type to Disabled. If still have trouble connecting, delete temporary internet files and try again

Mountain bike trail at Machang Bubok – Sungai Lembu, Bukit Mertajam

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:34:15 GMT

Yesterday for the first time i joined my friend for a off road mountain biking trip. We started at 7am at Hai Tang Ma temple. it is situated along Jalan Kulim, which is just after passing through a junction to Sungai Lembu if you come from Bukit Mertajam and going towards Kulim.

The trail started not far after turning into the road towards Sungai Lembu, on the left hand side.It is a covered trail at the uphill portion. We actually passed by a durian plantation. we can see the surrounding hilly area covered in morning mist and it is cool and comforting. i did not manage to cycle all the way to the top, pushing my bike most of time. my bike only contains 6 speed and the seat couldn’t be adjusted to a greater height which is needed for uphill. i’ll upgrade my bike (lerun tourney with lots of shimano accessories) sometime in future.

downhill is a slippery, rocky, and thrilled. it is not a covered road but instead a red earth trail winding through rubber trees and some jungle bushes. eventually we somewhere nearby a very much deserted small industrial area along the sg. lembu road. from there we take another trail up the hill, which pass through oil palm plantation. as the road wind up, the scenery is very beautiful. i used my blackjack 2 to capture some photos below. i only capture photo at the stopping point and did choose the most scenic location to take them. as the trail here is red earth and very muddy, none of the biker manage to cycle up the entire trail. Again, i pushed my bike for most of the trail.

despite my first mountain bike trip is more a pushing bike trip rather than cycling. i have enjoyed it very much.

the hills surrouding machang bubok area

a gps trail that shows the trail (doesn't match exactly and the photos are not from this trip) -> http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25576

Help for getting and using Unlock Code for Unlocking Blackjack 2 (Blackjack II or Samsung i617) locked to AT&T (ATT) and this works in Malaysia for Maxis, Digi, Celcom sim

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:32:51 GMT

You get a blackjack 2 which is tied to AT&T. you wish to use it with other sim card (like T mobile), or want to use it in foreign country. For my case, i want to use it in Malaysia, with my maxis sim card. My original AT&T i617 disallow it. I got to unlock it. Here are the steps for your reference, on how to unlock it. i believe it is legal :)

Step by Step unlock guide

get unlock code (a.k.a Network Control Key). what is unlock code? it is a 8 digits unlock code :you can choose below alternatives to get it.

i) call to AT&T and they will provide you with one after much hassle. Google it if you need more information on this. plenty of people talk on this on forum. but basically it is something like this: call AT&T or ask for it. You may have to ask them to put you through to their tech department. However, if you are not a AT&T’s customer they may not give the code.

ii) get a professional unlock kit (search for one on www.ebay.com). i not sure if this work and the price is steeper compared to alternative (iii) below.

iii) buy a code online. There are plenty of them. but the cheapest is from www.ebay.com , choose the one hosted for your country (www.ebay.com.my for my case). check the seller’s reputation before you buy a code. for my case, i pay US$9.9 for it.

after you get the unlock code, do these steps

Power off the phone
Put in a non AT&T sim card
Power on the phone (& enter your sim card pin if it is prompted)
Enter #7465625*638*
A dialog box will come out asking for Network Control Key, once you have entered the second * in step 4 above
Enter the unlock code (8 digits for my blackjack 2)
Press "OK" Soft key (not the Send or OK hard key)
A message will be shown: Successfully unlock Network Status